Saturday, 1 May 2010

The Festival of The Trees 47

May Day, Beltane & The Tree of Life

The Festival of the Trees n0.47 is upon us leaping joyously into the month of May and Beltane. As Samhain marked the beginning of the Celtic year and the death of summer, Beltane is the celebration of renewed life after the long winter. Everywhere there are signs of life, renewal in energy and inspiration. Lambs, calves and foals can be seen in the fields. The earth is waking and sending up shoots and sprouts. Our gardens and embankments are awash with blooms. Nesting birds enchant us with their song and the trees tenderly uncurl their leaves showing us reassurance and promises of splendour to come. Spring is here!

It is no wonder that the magical changes of season, the stepping out from the dark into the light inspire us so. Robert Frost describes the early leaf as 'a flower', Shakespeare writes 'When proud-pied April, dressed in all his trim, Hath put a spirit of youth in every thing'. Robert Louis Stevenson speaks happily about 'The fallows and the leafless trees, And all my spirit tingled', and Phillip Larkin captures the essence of the fertility of this time exuberantly in his poem 'The Trees'.

The trees are coming into leafLike something almost being said;The recent buds relax and spread,Their greenness is a kind of grief.Is it that they are born againAnd we grow old? No, they die too,Their yearly trick of looking newIs written down in rings of grain.

Yet still the unresting castles threshIn fullgrown thickness every May.Last year is dead, they seem to say,Begin afresh, afresh, afresh.

This month we have some wonderful participants generously sharing their love of nature and trees. Spirthelpers offers inspirational poetry and pictures of breathtaking beauty in posts celebrating Earth Day, and the Festival of the Trees. SeabrookeLeckie enthralls us with the remarkable tree climbing porcupine. Leaves and Bloom gives us the 'scentsational' Mimosa Tree. The Honest Hypocrite shares with us an explosion of colour wit his pictures of Cherry Trees and Magnolia's. Mille FioriFavoriti explores the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and Prairie Walker also shows us the beauty of the Magnolia tree and that:

'Trees remind us that there is always hope for a rebirth, a refreshed spirit, and a renewal of life'.

Above you can see Lynne Hoppe's own special way of honoring the trees. Stay a while and watch Lynne's enchanting film about her 'Green Shrine Tree'. T takes us walking through the bush to visit the Fungi Tree. Cheryl Dolby shares her magical tree inspired paper dolls in her collection of 'Grandmother Trees'. Below you can see a draft of 'The Tree of Life' by the esteemed artist Patricia Ariel. Ariel has worked on this piece for many months and it has evolved in many ways since this picture was taken. The work is rich in symbolism and a delight to behold if yet still incomplete. You can follow the progress of this painting at 'Mesmerised by the Sirens'.

'The Celtic Tree of Life. One of the most spiritual symbol of the Celts, intertwining begin and end, each drawing experience and strength from each other'.

Lastly, the very talented Debrina made the film clip above as part of her contribution to the Pulp Redux collaboration . You can read more about the making of this tree inspired altered book HERE.

So now, this May Festival draws to a close and I thank each and every participant for all of the enjoyable posts I have read these past days. I offer thanks to all that take the time to read this post and visit the links.The June edition of The Festival of the Trees will be hosted by Wandering Owl Outside, http://wanderingowloutside.wordpress.com/. The deadline is May 30th. The Theme for the June festival is: The relationship betwen trees and game animals/birds, or any environmental benefits of trees. Please email all submissions to: cjharn [at] gmail [dot] com.

It is now time to go and celebrate Beltane festivities. I leave you all with a Maypole Dance of Glastonbury.

Happy Beltane!

When in the springtime of the yearWhen the trees are crowned with leavesWhen the ash and oak, and the birch and yewAre dressed in ribbons fair...

I have just noticed that some of the links seem to have disappeared. My computer crashed yesterday and the draft i was working on did not save. i have no knowingly missed anyone out so if you submitted something that does not show here please let me know and i will sort that out for you.

What a lovely introduction to Festival of the Trees & such variety! The photo of the owl took my breath away. I can't wait to start reading. Thank you for putting it all together in such a creative way & for including my submission. I imagine it is a big job. Thanks also to everyone who submitted because I hang out for FoTTs every month. It's great reading & great armchair travel.

Beltaine Blessings to you jasmine on this fine first of May... what a wonderful, introduction to the Festival this month, some lovely quotations & that owl of Tammie's was already one of my favourites lately!I'm honoured you included more than one of my posts... i seem to have monopolised a paragraph, which wasn't my intention, but I do find this time of year inspiring! Thank you for the work you have put in to this post, however pleasurable it was xx

Beautiful and extremely sensitive post, you´ve worked hard and the result is a delilght. I´ve been through the links, the variety and beauty of the works you show is inmense and moving. Hugs and kisses, and happy Beltane :)

Jasmine this is fabulous!!!! So many gorgeous offerings to receive. I am looking forward to spending time with each post. You wove this all together so beautifully...like branches entangled and reaching at the same time.

love the post Jasmine, so inspiring! thank you so much for posting my unfinished artwork and give another dimension to it... I love each one of the works you featured here -- specially Tammie's picture, since the owl is one of my animal totems... it really caught my attention and heart!! Many blessings to you dear one, and a wonderful Beltane!!

Many Beltane Blessings to you, Jasmine. x:)This is a great post, celebrating the trees. All of the images are wonderful. Lovely to see Tammie's photo of the owl in the tree.Have a magical weekend, sweetie.xx:)

OMG! I am so blown away! My head is reeling from reading this magnificent post. I have been here before. How come you and I are not sisterfriends? We should be! I saw myself as I read your post. You are wonderful! Happy Beltane.

Jasmine this is a brilliant post that overflows with love, respect, and union with life and trees. I love how you creatively presented everyone mixed with poetry, films and art! I look forward to visiting each and everyone. Also, it is wonderful to see my owl photo on your post!

I have been away on holiday, but hope it is not too late to wish but wish you a joyful and blessed Beltane. You have worked so hard and these posts look wonderful, I am so enjoying looking through them all. The photo of the owl peering through the branches is wonderful! x

Bright Beltane wishes, Jasmine, and thank you for such a magical post. The Festival of Trees is a fine celebration and this is a beautiful introduction. I now feel so truly inspired. Much love and light as we dance into spring's song. xx

All so beautiful. I hope you had a gorgeous weekend Jasmine. I shall now hop off and follow all the links. I'm already a huge fan of Lynne Hoppe and Debrina. Have a wonderful week. I'm glad to be back and in touch again!

Hello Jasmine, I am just catching up with your lovely posts. The Tree of Life Festival sound great. Thanks for sharing all those pics with us. Your wool felting creations are also very lovely and creative. Hugs Judy

My goodness, Jasmine what a wonderful post, packed full of wonderful art and words. I love green shrine tree and that Lynne leave artwork for nature to add to and Patricia's tree of life artwork is so stunning, I took a gander at her blog.Trees fill me with immense joy and peace, thank you!!!

About Me

The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity... and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself.
William Blake